chagrin
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
-
chagrins,
present (3rd person singular)
-
chagrined,
past participle, past
-
chagrinned,
past participle, past
-
chagrining,
present participle
-
chagrinning
present participle
-
to vex by disappointment or humiliation.
The rejection of his proposal chagrined him deeply.
-
Obsolete. shagreen.
noun
verb
Synonym Usage
See shame.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
chagrinsimple
-
chagrinssimple
-
have chagrinedperfect
-
have chagrinnedperfect
-
has chagrinedperfect
-
has chagrinnedperfect
-
am chagriningprogressive
-
am chagrinningprogressive
-
are chagriningprogressive
-
are chagrinningprogressive
-
is chagriningprogressive
-
is chagrinningprogressive
-
have been chagriningperfect progressive
-
have been chagrinningperfect progressive
-
has been chagriningperfect progressive
-
has been chagrinningperfect progressive
Past
-
chagrinedsimple
-
chagrinnedsimple
-
had chagrinedperfect
-
had chagrinnedperfect
-
was chagriningprogressive
-
was chagrinningprogressive
-
were chagriningprogressive
-
were chagrinningprogressive
-
had been chagriningperfect progressive
-
had been chagrinningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of chagrin
First recorded in 1650–60; from French; origin unknown
Explanation
Chagrin is a noun that represents an emotion or feeling and it's an uncomfortable one. If you feel chagrin, it means that you are embarrassed or distressed as a result of a failure. The word chagrin, a noun, comes from the French word of the same spelling and means "melancholy, anxiety, vexation." An odd fact about the word in English is that it had been thought to be related to another, similar-sounding word, shagreen, "rough, untanned leather." When one mistakes one word as a relative of another, it's called "false etymology."
Vocabulary lists containing chagrin
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant
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100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The possibility of a rematch was also floated, with Mayer also suggesting Cameron had benefited from home advantage – to the champion's chagrin, as she said "talk is cheap".
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
When I finally did, age 30, I realized to my chagrin that in following his footsteps, I hadn’t scratched the surface of his intellectual journey.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
The center, to the chagrin of many in the NBA, has long been known more for his finesse touch shots than physical play.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2026
To my chagrin but not my surprise, no one else in the theater came with their tail tucked between their legs, covered by a trench coat.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2026
There is no official media coverage of gleanings, much to the chagrin of the more publicity-minded scythes.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
Hector the dog delights and chagrins them in equal measure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2018
However, while Carter's crusty editorializing delights thousands of listeners, it chagrins thousands more, keeps him in a perpetual controversial stew.
From Time Magazine Archive
Soon after, when I was in the country, this maid, having me no more to vent her chagrins on behaved in such a manner to my mother-in-law that she could not bear it.
From The Autobiography of Madame Guyon by Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon
He sought consolation for chagrins at home in attachments abroad, first with a Madame Puisieux, a fifth-rate female scribbler, and then with Sophie Voland, to whom he was constant for the rest of her life.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 4 "Diameter" to "Dinarchus" by Various
Their two is not the real two, their four not the real four: so that every word they say chagrins us and we know not where to begin to set them right.
From English Prose A Series of Related Essays for the Discussion and Practice by Frederick William Roe
The abrupt exits have frazzled some of the city’s elder statesmen, chagrined politicians—and prompted some chief executives to make not-so-subtle digs at their former neighbors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
But while durian lovers feast, Malaysian farmers are chagrined.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
The front end, which was also a trunk, came up right to my rib cage, a contact point that would have chagrined any high school football coach as bad tackling form: too high.
From Slate ● Jun. 22, 2025
During a “lightning round” of queries, Christie was chagrined when MacCallum asked him about government investigations of UFOs.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 24, 2023
But when he came to pay, he was chagrined to find so much of his money had gone to fill and overfill his stomach.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
Last week publicity-hating President Tew was chagrinned to find his name very much in the news.
From Time Magazine Archive
On his Thanksgiving vacation he had missed five successive quail and gone home chagrinned.
From Time Magazine Archive
Many another influence close to the Administration was similarly chagrinned.
From Time Magazine Archive
"The joke's on us this time, and no doubt about it," said the also chagrinned, but more philosophically inclined "Gibs."
From The Dreamer A Romantic Rendering of the Life-Story of Edgar Allan Poe by Mary Newton Stanard
Peter Slade was much chagrinned to have the victory snatched from him, and began to mutter something about the race not being a fair one.
From The Rover Boys on the Farm or Last Days at Putnam Hall by Edward Stratemeyer
Cecil's unfortunate encouragement of the night before—displayed more with a view to chagrining Sir Penthony than from a mere leaning toward coquetry—has fanned his passion to a very dangerous height.
From Molly Bawn by Margaret Wolfe Hamilton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
